Italy´s technocrat PM Mario Monti blames "the father and mother of the eurozone" (Germany and France) for much of the euro crisis:
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Wednesday
said the root of Europe´s debt woes lay
partly in the irresponsible parenting of Germany and France during the bloc's
infancy.
Monti told reporters in Tokyo that because the eurozone's two
largest players had not abided by fiscal rules, they had set a bad example for
the rest of the continent.
"The story goes back to 2003 (and) the still
almost infant life of the euro," Monti said.
"It was in fact Germany and
France that were loose concerning the public deficits and debts."
--
He said despite recommendations, a meeting of ministers from European Union governments had decided not to
punish France and Germany for going beyond the deficit limit.
"So the two
largest countries in the eurozone had the (deficit) with complicity of Italy,
which was then chairing under the rotation system the council of prime ministers
of European Union.
"Of course if the father and mother of the eurozone
are violating the rules, you could not expect... (countries such as) Greece to
be compliant."
Read the entire article here
PS
Monti is probably right about the bad parenting. However, he should have added that the illegitimate child - or maybe the euro should be called a bastard - is certainly not blameless, either.
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